Hot Topics:

Revitalized Jamestown 'Merc' embodies town's return from brink

By Charlie Brennan

Staff Writer

Posted:
12/28/2016 06:19:16 PM MST

Updated:
12/28/2016 06:22:39 PM MST

A palm tree in the corner is decorated for Christmas, and a winged gargoyle is perched on the roof.

The music is supplied by vinyl spinning on a turntable, and a tambourine peeks out from beneath scattered sections of the Sunday New York Times on a coffee table by the comfy antique sofas over by the front windows. Ornately decorated skulls — one animal, one human — share shelf space with dozens of old cookbooks; a lumber saw is propped in a corner; and a dog that makes it through the front door gets a friendly but firm escort right back out.

And, most importantly to the community of Jamestown, all the tables at the Jamestown Mercantile Cafe on a recent snowy Sunday morning were occupied.

The place is hopping, one more sign that this mountain village, hammered in the September 2013 flood, is continuing to reclaim its mojo, despite being dealt a near-crippling blow in that historic storm.

It's gratifying to those who work at the Merc, for its patrons, and for those who recognize the vital role it plays in buoying Jamestown's spirits through tough times.

Matej Dolenc, up for the morning from south Boulder, explained the singular allure of the Merc as he finished his breakfast.

"It's the vibe, the feel," said Dolenc, godfather to the son of the restaurant's owners. "You don't really get places like this, in town. It's half restaurant, half-your buddy's house."

Advertisement

Town's 'living room'

Construction in James Canyon still limits the town hub's hours, which currently consist of live music and dinner four nights a week, plus a sumptuous Saturday and Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

But there's enough happening once again at the Merc, that people are making the trek from Boulder and beyond, to be part of the renaissance at an establishment that has served Jamestown since 1908.

Mayor Tara Schoedinger, who has labored through the tears and endless battles with bureaucracy to shepherd the town's return from the brink, said the Merc well symbolizes the community's resilience and determination, post-flood.

"Absolutely," said Schoedinger. "It's our gathering place. It's our community. It's always had a special place in our community's history."

As Michael Box, a resident who also waits tables at the Merc, observed as he enjoyed breakfast with his children Sage and River, "It really serves as the living room for the town."

The living room got a whole lot bigger this summer, when the landlord gave the green light for taking down an interior wall that had sealed off an area reserved for storage. Its presence had made for tight quarters, particularly when popular bands were performing for crowds that pay no cover charge.

"There had been people waiting in town for literally 100 years to take this wall down," said Rainbow Shultz, who owns the Merc with husband Adam Burrell. "So the second I put the word out, there were like 20 people who came and we took it down in one day and opened up the next day."

A large slab of wood, salvaged from an enormous maple felled for road widening at 75th Street and Arapahoe Road, is propped by the back wall, ready to be deployed as part of a bar that is slated for construction. The Merc notched another benchmark this summer by securing its liquor license —- although right now, only one featured cocktail is offered each day.

The lump of coal in the town's stocking this holiday season came in the form of a notice from the county that long-term restoration work on James Canyon Drive is to commence in April, and continue into the summer of 2018.

"That road was wiped out down to the bedrock," by the 2013 flood," said Andrew Barth, spokesman for the Boulder County Transportation Department. "We built an emergency road, and then a winter road and then expanded that into gravel roads and then came back in a couple years back to add a layer of asphalt, to help them get through safely and help our own crews."

But that was just a holding action.

"That road has been through a process, but it still needs to be rebuilt from that base, on up," Barth said. "The material brought in to build the gravel road was whatever we could get our hands on at the time. There needs to be full reconstruction of that road, plus several major retaining walls that will help strengthen the creek side of the road, against future flooding."

Barth said the county is well aware what a challenge the project will be for everyone in Jamestown.

"We know how important that route is," he said. "We're going to have one lane open at all times going in and out of Jamestown. We'll have flaggers during the day and signals at night. There will be delays, but we will keep people moving."

Shultz said it was "devastating" to get the email notice from the county concerning the project, two weeks before Christmas.

"I was just, like, crushed, because I thought we were going to finally be able to open (full time) this year," she said.

Because she said county road signs at the base of the canyon are not always updated in as timely a fashion necessary to reflect when there is access or not, she said, word of mouth is critical to keeping people informed on when they can get there, and when they can't. That, and an abiding spirit of grit and perseverance, will be required to get them through.

"I mean, my husband and I are just talking ourselves through it," Shultz said. "We've made it this far, we're going to make it a little further.

Schoedinger, the mayor, said a healthy Merc — "The food there keeps getting better," she said — is critical to the town. With business there picking up, the road project about to launch, the list of items left to put Jamestown where it was pre-flood — improved, actually — is growing short.

"I think we're really close," she said. "We've got a couple big projects left to do. We're in the process of reconstructing our town square right now, and I think that will be a huge emotional boost for our community, in that the center of our town is no longer completely torn up."

Glancing around at the funky decor, and licking his lips as he set down a fork, Dolenc gave his bottom line on the Merc, in words that pretty much fit the sui generis town in which it is situated.

Owner Rainbow Shultz, at right, brings an order of food to Barbara Fusco and Doug Wendel during the weekend brunch at the Jamestown Mercantile on Dec. 11. For more photographs of the revitalized Jamestown Mercantile go to www.dailycamera.com (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story